The Sun. — London, England, 1864-01-15 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS FOR 1864. In our previous notice on this subject we stated that the great railway struggle of this session would be between the rival plans of Mr. Hawkshaw and Mr. Fowler, the latter gentleman having adopted the Lords' suggestions of last year and now bring ing forward two gigantic, but most comprehensive, schemes for carrying them out. The chief sugges tions made by the Lords' Committee were, that what is called the metropolitan railway district should be considerably extended, that no main lines should be allowed to come further into the metro polis, and that an inner and an outer circle of rail way should be formed by an independent company which should intercept all the great main lines above their present metropolitan termini, and so divert their traffic round rather than through London.;The outer circle it was recommended should be used for this interception of goods and passenger traffic; the inner for the purely local traffic of the metropolis itself. It was further recommended that at one part of their circumference the inner and outer circles should join at a level, so as to virtually make the two lines one for the purposes of communication. This report, from which Mr. Hawkshaw dissented, Mr. Fowler has accepted, and, with a large staff of surveyors, has passed the recess in carefully set ting out a plan in which all the recommendations of their lordships are carried out ; and the two projects are really most comprehensive. The cost, however, is likely to be a formidable drawback on the commercial success of the plans, and most especially when we consider what it is estimated at, compared with what the outlay is almost certain to be. The inner circle is merely an extension of the Metropolitan, or underground, Railway, which now commences at Paddington and ends at Blackfriare, but which is being ex tended to Finsbury-circus. This line it is now proposed to extend from Paddington through and beneath Bayswater, under Notting-hill, and round and at some distance outside the western extremity of Kensington-gardens. Thence it sweeps round Brompton, passing behind the houses facing the Exhibition in Cromwell-road, and continues along the south side of Chester-square to the Victoria station, and across Westminster to Westminster bridge. From Westminster it is hoped to take it along the Thames Embankment to Blackfriars, and thence under the proposed new street into Cannon street, where it has a defiant station full in front of Mr. Ilawkshaw's. From Cannon-street it winds under King William-street to the Fenchurch sta tion, and thence round by Haydon-square, across Liverpool-street, beneath Finsbury-square, where it at lest joins the end of the Metropolitan underground line which is now being made. This constitutes the inner circle, though, as its course has been as far as possible selected to avoid valuable property, it as very far indeed from being a circle, but is an irre gular oblong about five miles long by two broad. Its total length is 12f, miles, of which four miles are already built in the Underground Railway, leaving 81 to be construoted, and the estimate for this 81 m iles is £3,000,000, or in round numbers about £300,000 per mile. This estimate appears little short of astounding when we consider the nature of the property the line passes through, as compared with the property taken by the Underground Rail way, which has cost more than 1300,000 per mile. At what price is it expected the contracts will be let for taking the tunnel up Cannon-street and under King William -street to Fenchurch station, when the contractor is liable for all damage done to the surrounding buildings by cracks and settlements? We know how in the very widest thoroughfare'.in London—that down the New-road—the houses on either side were affected while the tunnel was being made for the subterranean line. Is it expected that a similar tun eel can be made through such a sell as that under Cannon-street, which is less than a quarter the width of the New-road, without cracking the lofty pils-s of warehouses on either side far and near ? Thee much per foot will a contractor expect for driviv a tunnel under King William-street to Fen church when he has to pay for the damage done all around , hikat ? Tao idea of such an inner circle is, no doubt, an excellent one if it were practicable with reasonable outlay, and if it did not include within iza schemes the total disfigurement of the Thames Embankment ; but to say that it can be effected for £3,000,000 is to set the engineering world staring with amazement. The stations on this line are pro posed to be all open to the air, and these will be the only outward signs of the existence of the line, which will be entirely subterranean. There are to be stations in Liverpool-street, Fenchurch, Cannon street, E erl-street,Waterloo-bridge, at Westminster (where there aro two, one for the public, and one to be used only by members of the Lords or Commons) one at Victoria, one in Pimlico, one at Brompton, one at Kensington, one at Notting-hill, and one at Bayswater, and the cost of all these, including those in the city, is supposed to be covered by the esti mate of £3,000,000. The outer circle is as comprehensive in idea and as expensive in fact as the inner, but though likely, perhaps, to be more useful to the public than the inner line, it is unfortunately certain to be more vehemently opposed, from the mass of vested inte rests in the shape of established lines on the profits of which it apparently trenches. This outer circle is, in railway parlance, intended to " tap" the great lines leading to London at short distances outside their metropolitan termini, and draught off their passengers to the various districts round London to which they may be destined, in the suburbs, or, by the junction of the inner and outer circles, to the heart of the city itself. Whether the great main lines are likely to approve this scheme or not we cannot say, though on the face of it, as inter cepting their passengers may mean intercepting part of their profits, it isjust possible that they may not be willing to join in it. These considerations, however, are, in a manner, beside the question with the public, wko will only look on the plan in the light in which it is offered to them—as an accom modation for themselves. It is under this aspect that we have to regard it—to see how far what it proffers is capable of execution. The outer circle, then, commences at the South-Western near Clap ham, crosses the river at Battersea, passes through Brompton, and makes its junction near the Exhi bition with the inner circle, along which it runs side by side to Notting-hill, From this point it diverges across to the Great Western, which it " taps" at about a mile from Paddington, thence on to the Londo n and North-Western Railway, which it joins, oc " taps" rather, at Kilburn, and so on to the Hampstead and City Junction, where it has a per fect fen of branches. It continues round by South end to Kentish-town (crossing the Hampstead and City Junction again), and sa on to Holloway , where at the Seven Sisters St a ti on i t " taps " the Great Northern, and goes to Stamford-hill, making its junction with the Great Eastern at Upper Clapton. From this point it turns south through Lower Clap ten, Homerton, Hackney, Old Ford, Bow, Bromley, Limehouse, crossing the Thames between the West India and Commercial Docks on a high level bridge, and thence on to Deptford, where, near New-cross, it again! spreads out like a fan to form four junc tions with a mass of southern lines. From these junctions the remainder of the circle is completed by the London and Brighton line, which passes through Peckham and Camberwell, and joins with the London, Chatham, and Dover, which continues on through Clapham to the South-Western. This is the outer circle. Its diameter is 7 miles, its length 24 miles, and its junctions and bunches 8 miles more —32 miles in all. Its estimated cost is £,000,000, and it is carried either on arches or embankments almost entirely at a high level above the streets. Of what kind this line will be may be at once seen from the fact that in its 21 miles' length it has no lees than 8 miles of branches and junctions. It has, in fact, upwards of 30 junctions with great main lines. Every railway traffic manager knows how easy it is to riespatch trains quickly ; how difficult it is even to approximate to time when the arrange ments depends on the trains that have to arrive. If this outer circle with its mass of j unc ti ons can b e managed with less than six lines of rail it will do what no other company has ever yet achieved ; and we da not hesitate to say that with the time lost in catching arrival and departure trains a traveller could reach Brighton in the same, if not in less time, than would be occupied in journeying over this 24 miles of junctions. The Lords' Committee have recommended this plan in order to prevent the entry of main lines into the metropolis ; yet by Act of Parliament every line is entitled to right of way over a line which joins it on payment of certain tolls fixed by the Act, and in virtue of this law the Great Northern and London and North-Western might, in fact, bring their terminus into one or two points of the inner circle which would pay them best. With such a provision we certainly fail to see how the great main lines are kept out of the metropolis by this inner and outer circle, the only claim of which to be made at all is that they bring them all in. On the question, too, of estimate, this outer circle appears even more strange than the inner, in the low figures at which its cost is placed. Take the high level bridge at Lime house, for instance. It is certainly not an average specimen of the estimates; on the contrary, to say fairly, it is the worst example of under-estima ting to be found in the outer circle. Still, when it is a work of the most stupendous magnitude, and one likely, it carried out, to attract the attention of engineers throughout the world, the cost of it, as at present estimated, may be justly referred to by any who look to the outlay which is likely to be neces sary to complete the plans. This bridge, as we have said, crosses the Thames at Limehouse, and at that part of the river it mast be carried at such a height as, like the Britannia-bridge,will admit of the pas sage under it of vessels of every size. It is to be laid for four lines of rail, is to be 140 ft. above high water, is to be built in a single span of 700 ft., and to be built in place, and the estimate is £380,000 ! To the general reader it is only necessary to say a few words to explain why engineers regard a bridge of this kind for such a sum as impossible. The Bri tannia-bridge cost very nearly £1,000,000, and its greatest span is not over 600 ft., and it was built on the shore, and raised to its present level-100ft. above the water—in single spans. The high-level bridge of Mr. Fowler is to be an imitation of Mr. Brunel's great bridge at Saltash, but, instead of spans similar to that structure, Mr. Fowler pro poses of 700 feet,—that is to say, very nearly the length of the water-way of Westminster-bridge, without any support except from its two ends. The bridge is, in fact, to be one girder, 130 feet deep by 700 feet long, and to be built in its place,—that is to say, from side to side, until it meets in the mid dle, and all for £380,000. If Mr, Fowler seriously proposes to keep within his estimate he has under taken a far more difficult task than the bridge itself. THE TOWNLEY CASE, The following are copies of papers relating to the case of George Victor Townley : No. 1. MR, WADDINGTON TO THE SECRETARY TO THE COMMTS SIONERS IN LI:NA.CY. Whitehall, Dec. 23, 1863. Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir Geo. Grey to request that you will lay before the Commissioners in Lunacy the enclosed papers in the case of George Victor Townley, now under sentence of death for murder. Sir George Grey is of opinion that the verdict of the jury, in which Mr. Baron Martin, who presided at the trial, concurs, and which appears to Sir George Grey from the evidence to have been right, decides the question as to the sanity of the prisoner at the time when the crime was committed. The only question therefore on which any doubt exists, and upon which in the opinion of the judge there ought to be further inquiry, is, whether the prisoner is now insane. It is to be regretted that this question was not raised before the trial, when it could have been sub mitted to a jury, but, under the actual circum stances, Sir George Grey requests that the Commis sioners in Lunacy will be so good as to undertake the inquiry recommended by Mr. Baron Martin, and report to me their opinion, for his information, whether or not the prisoner is at the present time of unsound mind. The papers sent herewith comprise two letters from the learned Judge, with Sir George Grey's reply to the former of them, the notes of evidence taken at the trial, including the evidence of Dr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne, and a series of applications from various persona to whom the pri soner is known, and who are able to speak as to the state of his mind before or since the commission of the murder. I am to add that the prisoner's execution is fixed for the 31st of D:cember inst.—l am, &c., H. WADDINGTON. Enclosure 1 in No. 1. MR BARON MARTIN TO SIR G. GREY. Nottingham, Dec. 13, 1863. • Sir,—George Victor Townley was convicted yes terday before me at Derby of murder, and sentenced to be executed. I have directed a copy of my notes to be made for you, should you desire to have it ; but there is a full report of the trial in the news papers. The conviction was, in my opinion, right ; but Mr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne were examined at the trial, and both deposed in the strongest manner that the prisoner is now of diseased mind and absolutely insane. I think it right to call your attention at once to the subject, with a viaw to a correct opinion being formed as to the propriety of his execution.—l have, &c., SA3IIJEL MARTIN. :Enclosure 2 in No. 1. 31n. BRUCE TO MR, BARON' MARTIN. Whitehall, Dec. 17, 1863. Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th inst., in the ease of George Victor Townley, convicted before you of murder; and I am to re• quest that you will be so good as to inform Sir George Grey whether the impression produced on your mind by the evidence of the two medical men examined at the trial, coupled with the de meanour of the prisoner, was such as to induce you to believe that the prisoner is now insane, or that there is so much reason to believe him so as to call for further inquiry, as the report of the evidence in the Tinzes to which you refer in your letter does not appear to Sir George Grey to be by any means con clusive.—l am, &c., H. A. BRUCH. Enclosure 3 is No. 1: MR. BARON MARTIN TO MR. BRUCE, 11I,P. Norwich, Deo. 18, 1863. Sir,—l have received your letter of the 17th inst., requesting me to inform Sir George Grey whether the impression produced on my mind by the evi dence of the two medical witnesses on the trial of George Victor Townley, coupled with the demean our of the prisoner, was such as to induce me to believe that the prisoner is now insane, or that there is such reason to believe him so as to call for further inquiry. I cannot say that I have formed any de cided opinion upon the point. The demeanour of the prisoner afforded me no means of arriving at one. He sat during the trial with his head depressed; I scarcely once saw his countenance ; and he never spoke. I would not be justified in saying that the evidence of Mr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne is not correct, but I certainly think, and have thought ever since the trial, that there ought to be further inquiry. I enclose a copy of my notes of evidence. You will find that of Dr. Winslow and Dr. Gisborne at page 25 and following pages.—l am, &c., SAMUEL MARTIN. No. 2. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY. Derby, Dec. 28, 1863. We, the undersigned Commissioners in Lunacy, report for the information of Secretary Sir George Grey, — That in compliance with the request contained in Mr. I Vaddington's letter of the 23d of December, we have undertaken the inquiry recommended by Mr. Baron Martin as to whether George Victor Townley, now under sentence of death at Derby for murder, is or is not at the present time of unsound mind. We proceeded to Derby on the morning of the 26th, and have since had lengthened interviews, on two separate occasions, with the prisoner. We have also examined the governor of the prison, Mr. Sims; the surgeon, Mr. Gisborne ; the chaplain, Mr. Moore; the father and mother of the prisoner, the chief warder of the gaol, and the four warders w ho before and since the trial, have had exclusive charge of the pris oner, and have watched him d ay an d n i g h t. The re 'suit of this examination of the officials of the pri'ion, of which the detail will be found ap pended to our report, may be stated briefly as in effect establishing, without dispute, that there has been substantially no change in the prisoner's mentril state since the trial ; that such difference or alteration as may have been noted has been an im prov ement ; and that he has been altogether more at e Ise, more resigned, and at times even cheerful, sine a the sentence was passed upon him. Not at any time since ho was first brought to the gaol, ace 3rding to the testimony of all who have had the means of watching him closely, does he appear to have been more rational than he is at present. In the endeavour to form a satisfactory opi nion as to his existing mental state, we have found it impossible to exclude the consideration of what his mental condition had been during the entire period of his imprisonment. 'What it is now it has been throughout ; and the detail of what was elicited from him at our interviews, ap pended to this report, is probably sufficiently ample to enable the Secretary of State to form an opinion for himself as to the prisoner's moral con dition, the views entertained by him of 'the mur der be committed, the motives that impelled him to it, and the reasons by which he justifies it. We i have to remark that generally his manner during these interviews, with one or two exceptions which we have noted, was remarkably calm, quiet, and self-possessed; and though he seemed to have had no difficulty in at once, from the questions put to him, correctly inferring the object and drift of our' examination, we saw not the least grounds for suspecting him of any intention to mislead us by putting on a manner not natural to him, or feigning what he did not feel. In view of the extravagant opinions thus delibe rately professed by him, of his extraordinarily per verted moral sense, and of the hereditary taint alleged, and apparently proved, to have existed in the family of the prisoner's grandmother, we cannot consider him to be of sound mind; but his views of right and wrong, false as they are, appear to have been coherently acted upon, and with a full sense of what they involved. He reasons now, as he acted in committing the murder. Upon the point of his alleged belief in a conspiracy against him we pressed him very closely ; but we could not satisfy ourselves that this was in the nature of a delusion. It seems certain that some members of the deceased's family objected to his engagement with her, while others favoured it, or were indifferent ; and that the former had obtained an influence over her some little time before her letter was written, which was meant finally to put an end to it. Hence he believed that she had been acted upon by a conspiracy, which was meant "in the tenderest point" to isiure him ; and all the questions we put upon this part of the case failed to draw from him anything that could bear other construction than that he had taken a disordered and morbid view of an actual occurrence. Being of opinion, therefore, that the prisoner continues to be now in, the same mental state as when he committed the murder and underwent his trial, we think that, applying the law as laid down by Mr. Baron Martin in this case, the prisoner, George Victor Townley, was justly convicted. W. G. CAMPBELL. JAMES WILKES. JOHN FORSTER. TO THE EDITOR CF THE SUN. SIR,—In the communication made in this case to the Home Secretary by Mr. W. T. Cox and two other magistrates, and by Dr. Goode and Mr. Har wood, and published in The Sun of the 12th there is an important error, which, with your per mission, I should like to correct. It is stated :—" Upon the trial of the prisoner, Mr. J. H. Sims, the Governor of the Gaol in which the prisoner was confined, deposed to the fact of the prisoner being insane at that period—viz., on the 11th of December." I never was at the trial asked by counsel whether I considered the prisoner sane or not. Immediately after council had elicited an opinion of insanity from Dr. Winslow and Mr. Gisborne, I was asked whether I considered the prisoner was in the same state then as he was when be came into the gaol; my answer was in the affir- mative, not that I meant to imply that I considered him insane, for I never have done so. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. H. Sims, Governor of the Gaol. County Gaol, Derby, Jan. 13. The Derby Mercury publishes a letter from Mr. Gisborne, surgeon to the Derby county prison, and another from his partner Dr. Goode; both letters having for their object the personal justification of the writers as to their share in the transaction which led to Townley's respite. Noticing the statement of Mr. Mundy, M.P., that the Visiting Justices were greatly surprised " that they were not informed by the surgeon to the gaol when he first became aware of the prisoner's insanity, after having previously given us his decided opinion that the man was per fectly sane"—Mr. Gisborne says : Townley entered the gaol on the 24th August. I saw him on the 25th, and occasionally visited him till the 6th Octo ber, the date when I made the following note in my jour nal :—Oct. 6, Townley aperient pills. Good health, mind, and body." In my interviews with the prisoner our conver sation was of the most general character. I found him placid, free, and satisfied ; ho eat his food, slept well, and neither asked for nor needed any medical advice; in fact, during the whole of his imprisonment, he only twice or thrice re quested to see me as his health was good. Up to October the 6th I never once alluded to the crime on which he was to be arraigned, for with that I had nothing to do. My conversations with him had only proved to me tha; his mind was weak, and that he was ill-educated. The evidence thus before me disclosed no grounds for suspecting insanity. I was impressed as the public were that he was sound in mind and body. The above curt note was made for recalling to my memory his general state of health, and not for the purpose of supplying the visiting justices with any formation. The visiting justices, though they met on Oct. 9, Nov. 13, and December, never indivi dually or collectively officially asked me one word as to Townley's mind, or ever called my attention to it. As soon as a winter assize was arranged, I visited Townley more frequently, not that he required it. I also made repeated inquiries of the governor, chaplain, and turnkeys as to what they had observed, and as to his remarks. I did so because I thought it possible that the judge might ask my opinion as to his mental condition. During the last seven or eight weeks I frequently discussed and entered into details of the horrible tragedy and of his religious views; he was always open and unequivocal in stating his opinions, though they were of the most absurd character; he justified his acts and often expressed comfort at the approaching termination of his life. Sometimes I thought his monstrous notions might bo all pretence—that he had an object to accomplish, so I often travelled over the same ground with him to test his sincerity. From all that I saw and heard I was sorely perplexed as to the true state of his mind. Sometime I thought he was insane—again I thought he was sane. In this difficulty I remained till the aseiees approached. Mr. Leech called en me a fortnight before the trial ; I told him that I was desirous of having nothing to do with either the prosecution or defence, that I could only state to the jury what I had observed, and that I considered Townley suf fered from a morbid condition of mind. Some days after wards I had a consultation with Dr, Hitchmann, and our joint opinion was that no case of legal insanity could be established, and that an intelligent jury would be certain to find him guilty. About this time, Dr. Forbes Winslow, a great authority in lunacy, saw Townley, and reported on his case. This I read carefully. Dr. Winslow had no doubt that Townley's delusions and statements emanated from organic brain mischief ; that ha was insane. I put all these varied and accumulated facts, opinions, &c. together, and after balancing the evidence before me, and endeavouring to give a mature and impartial judgment, I came to the cone elusion, through the portals of doubt, that Townley was of unsound mind. His esz-ential defects were not discernable in discussing ordinary topics,but on matters relating to Miss Goodwin ho was monomaniacal. My early impressions were made on superficial data I believed then to be correct. I now consider the note in my journal regarding his mind to be erroneous. Mr. Mundy's language at the sessions implies that the magistrates having read my note on or about the date it was written (Oct. 6), have remained till the day of Town ley's trial under the conviction that my " decided opi nion" was that he was " perfectly sane." I must now very respectfully ask the Visiting Justices whether my consideration entry was ever seen by them till January 3, 1864, the day previous to the sessions. If that bo a fact, how could my note have misled them I If they were uninformed of my written opinion, why should it surprise and aggrieve them ? It is asked by Mr. Mundy, ,6 why I did not communicate the change that had taken place—that change taking place at the gaol ?" If this applies to Townley, my reply is, that no change did take place in him ; if to myself, I answer, that almost till ring into the witness-box, I was undecided as to the opinion 1 I should give, I told Mr, Leech I should be guided much by what transpired its court, so in fact I had nothing posi tive to communicate to the Magistrates. The pros and cons which had been traversing my brain for two months I could not place in my journal—a history of my embarrassments would not afford any insight to the state of the prisoner's mind. Supposing I had considered kim insane on his ad mission, all was done for him that could be done. Magis terial authority is very limited over a prisoner before trial; after conviction it is extended, and it becomes an important duty with me to report to the Visiting Justices the phy sical capabilities of prisoners to perform their different pri son duty ; it is also highly imperative on me to look after the mental state of sentenced prisoners, so that if insane they may be removed to Lunatic Asylums. Dr. Goode thus explains his share in the matter : No steps having been taken by the Visiting Justices to inquire into the state of the criminal's mind, some magis trates were applied to under this clause (of the Prison Discipline Act) to take with them two medical men and make the necessary inquiry; the proceedings and the set were duly explained to the Chairman of the Visiting Justices, and an order obtained fur admission to visit the prisoner; and l e t it be observed th at i f those who desired I t e h a is st in th g e u ir judgment irywerei was n aminority among the Magistrates, at corroborated by that of the autho rities at a distance, who actually did stud down Commis sioners. The "local commission," as it has been termed, having for a few hours deferred its visit to suit the conrcni• I o n ce of some engag ed, met at the gaol some persons stated to be the very Commissioners required. The Local Commis sion was of course of necessity deferred, and would have been omitted altogether but for the feeling that no act of forma lity should remain unfulfilled in this emergency; it hence in due course entered on a careful examination of the prisoner, and the members, acting on their etanictiens, signed the necessary paper; this paper was simply drawn up in Formal compliance with the act, and no rearms were appended to it, because it was decided to leave to persons more conversant the task of collecting tied comparing the evidences for the Secretary of St a t e . N o f riends of the prison er , nor hi s solicitor , bore a ny p ar t i n or were present at the examination. Subsequently, to this proceeding, an informality having been pointed out, since but one of the magistrates was a misty magistrate, a second examination was undertaken in the presence of two county magistrates to avoid the technical difficulty, and if it was needless, at any rate the amount of undue influence exercised thereby in obtaining a reprieve may be judged of by the fact that it had not yet left the town when the re prieve arrived. The magistrates engaged justly remark that if the friends of Townley did not interfere, who else would by possibility do so, and in this they are sustained by the fact that since the time of the trial the visiting justices had never visited the prisoner, though it must not hence be in ferred that the magistrates who did visit Townley had any personal connection whatever with his friends. It has been objected to the individuals who conducted this examination that they were all already committed to maintain the pri soner's insanity, through having already signed petitions for the prisoner to the Secretary of State. This allegation is not true. Doubtless two magistrates had signed a petition, but the third had refused to do so, though he had signed a document praying for a commission ; and neither of the two medical men had signed any document whatever ; one, Mr. Harwood, from his public opportunities, has the experience in judging of insanity attained by but few general practi tioners; of my own fitness as the other I may not speak, but I would ask why was my name before all others called for by the public local press at a previous stage of these pro ceedings ? Although partner with the surgeon of the gaol, I have myself no connection with the gaol, and had had nothing to do with the prisoner, and participated in the general bias entertained against him. With regard to the proofs of insanity ex hibi ted by t h e p r i soner , I may remark that the account o f hi s ordinary be. ring, and ultra opini ons on religious and oth er su bj ects , have been already muc h discussed, and are well known, I need not hear repeat them : we find a man whose creed is annihilation after death, and yet we fled him exulting and gaining flesh on the conviction that he shall agai n p ossess i n fl es h a nd blo o d, as b efore, the victim he has hims e lf d estroye d ; from this and hi s ot h er delusions we may fairly dress a key to explain what we might otherwise simply call hardened impenitence, and conclude he is not simply impenitent, but mad. If a person enter tains impossible and irrational couvictions on matters of fact, irrespective of the teachings of superstition or ignor• ante, such persons may fairly be accounted insane. The delusions entertained by the prisoner having all reference to conditions immediately upon, and subsequent to, the commission of his crime evidently follow, and do not pre cede it, though it must be confessed that they prove the material from which have emanated these manifestations of unsound mind. MR. F. PEEL AT BURY, The Right Hon, F. Peel, M.P. (one of the Under •Secre• taries of the Treasury), met his constituents at Bury, Lan cashire, on Wednesday evening. The lower room of Barn brook-mill had been prepared for his reception, and an audi ence estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000 assembled. Mr. Geo. Whitehead presided. Mr. PneL e who was much cheered, said that among the anniversaries to which he looked forward with pleasure he counted that which brought him before his constituents to account to them for the manner in which he had performed his duties as their representative, and, as it were, to strike a balance in the account between them ; and far from that pleasure palling him by repeated use, he found it as freak and as treat as at the first, thsnks to the cordial greeting he always received and the kindly feeling which they in variah!y manifested towards him. He welcomed each suc • cessive meeting as aff or di ng ano th er li n k i n t h at lengthen ing chain which bound them together so firmly and yet so freely; and he looked upon those meetings as a safeguard for his own faithful service, because they reminded him of his responsibility to them; and he knew that a sense of respon sibility to one's constituency was notless necessary to make a member of Parliament a good member than was a sense of responsibility to the elected representatives of the nation themseh es necessary to make the Government of this country a good Government. These annual audits appeared to him to combine many of the advantages of annual elec tions, with freedom from their disadvantages, because they imparted that popular impulse, they gave that fresh sense of responsibility, under which a member newly elected might be supposed to act, without foregoing those advan tages which might be presumed to be derived from the services of members of Parliament who had the experience of several sessions to guide them. It had been said that the Parliamentary duties of members had not been so onerous of late as they formerly were ; that the last session, like the pre ceding one, had not been productive of any striking legisla however,that some measures not ushered in by any flourish of trumpets, r i v ue r e me r peseut passedsl s were. (Hoar.) wh icb l though calculated h to produc e th e mos t b ene ficial re sults. But admitting the statement to be true generally, etg u the fact was easily to be accounted for, inasmuch as in the prevailing temper of the public men the questions of the day had not afforded a favourable field for the realisation of such legislative results as he had referred to. These were times when the questions of most particular interest con cerned the foreign relations of this country—the equilibrium not of classes at home, but of independent Powers abroad— times when, perhaps, the maintenance of peace—the greatest blessing which a country could have—might depend upon the issue of negotiations that were pending—times when what this country principally desired was that her influence should be used in the cause of moderation and conciliation abroad, and when the force of that public opinion, of which she is the representative, should be brought to bear for ac complishing those ends; and times when, in order that pub lic opinion should have its due weight, it was essential that the mind of the country should be as the mind of one man, and that no questions should arise to divide or weaken her counsels. (Applause.) It was clear that the mind of the country had been bent upon what was passing outside, and he must confess that when We reflected that the tempest was still raging in America With undiminished fury; when we marked that war seemed oti the point of breaking out in the north of Germany ; when we observed how the horizon abroad was everywhere clouded and overcast—we could not be too thankful at our immunity from therm complications in which foreign countries were involved. We could not be too thankful, seeing how elsevhero the atmosphere was overclouded, for the sunshine we ourselves were enjoying, even though there might be spots in the sun and shadows beneath it, which it would bo politic at the first opportunity to remove. (Cheers.) In political speech, under existing circumstances, the leading topic must necessarily be the American question. (Hear, hear.) The war had now lasted three years, and we saw that as yet the north had not been able to overcome the resistance of the South. The North was like the Roman Consul who would not deepeir of the Republic in its adversity, The North did not despair of the Union, and was straining every nerve in its cause. The South had broken from th at U n i on ; would not hear of it again ; disbelieved in the Possibility of its reconstruction ; disbelieved that the Uni on cou ld again exist in its former sense of a brotherhood of States; believed, therefore, that union for it must mea n su b uga ti o n, and so strai ned on its side—and if possible to a tigher degree o f tension—every nerve for the purpos e o f accom plising its independence. To a bystander he thought it would appear that that dreadful war must have created a gulf between the Northern and the Southern people more impassable than the widest seas or the loftiest mountain barriers by which nature ever separated one people from anoth er - - (h e ar)— an d that, therefore, the alternative of that w ar mas t be subjugation or separation. He remembered meeting i n an old writer with the expres sion " the Americ a of truth.'' what h© meant by that ex• pression was th e undiscovred p arts of truth, because he wrote some 300 years ago, at a time when America, though e expression was discovered, h a d not b een explored, peel) an tho d th ught there could be forcible enough, B u t h e (M r . no doubt that if th ere were an America of fi c t ion i t would not be so startli ng as the America of truth, not of 300 years ago, but of th e p resent day. Loo k only had had nowauthentic at the burden of this war to ono s id e—the Nora" We information on th a t su bj ect placed before us in Messages presented to Congress lately-, statem ents of which, to use an American phrase, the " reliability" could not be disputed. Take the q ues ti on o f expense. It appeared that the three years he Central Govern years the war had l as t e d i t was costing t ecent of,the North at the rate of X 150,000,000 a-year. hap peered that of that annual expense they were not able to raise by taxation more than £25,0u0,00 0 a 'year, consequently the remaining £125,000,000 had to be obtained by borrowing; and that they had up to the present time found no difficulty in meeting with persons willing and: able to lend thorn the necessary funds. The consequence was, of course, a rapid augmentation of the national debt. The debt, which at the end of the first year of the war, in June, 1862, amounted to £125,000,000, in June, 1863, was £250,000,000. It was esti mated that in June, 1864, it would amount to £ 3 75,000,000, and if the war continued to June, 1865, and if that war, different from other wars, did not become more costly the longer that it lasted, the debt would then amount to £500,000,000. Now, a portion of that debt bore no interest. It had been employed as a medium of circulation to answer the purpose of money ; but it was found that the quantity which could be disposed of in this manner was necessarily limited. That limit was taken to be about £30,000,000, and it had been already reached. All the rest of the debt, and all the money that must be borrowed for the future, must necessarily belong to the interest-bearing portion of their debt, and inasmuch as the average rate of interest of their debt was 6 per cent., next June the amount which would be annually payable for interest on that debt would be about £16,000,000 or £17,000,000—a very respectable sum, even when placed by the side of the interest which we had to pay ourselves for a debt,incurreci during ages and generations of wars. (Hear.) Now, these figures, large as they were, would appear still larger if contrasted with the slenderness of the proportions of the figures for these same purposes before the war, only three years ago, In June, 1861, the capital debt of that country was not more than£l7,ooo,ooo—that was to say, about the same as the interest that the debt would amount to in a very few months ; while the income necessary to cover the expenditure, which had now reached the large sum of £150,000,000, was then not more than £12,000,000 or £13,000,000. Now, applying a scale of the same magnitude —for it was equally applicable to the other circumstances of the war, to the destruction of private property,—to the waste of human life. Bear it in mind that the facts had shown that; war could not be carried on without breaking off all allegiance to liberty; that we had seen the Habeas Corpus act suspended, trial by jury and the independence of the judges interfered with, liberty of the press and of speech things of the past, and we could form some idea, imperfect no doubt, of tiee burden and sacrifice entailed by that war. Now, it might appear a redeeming feature of it that if not the origin, if not the object of it, at least the end of it would be the extinction of slavery--(hear, hear, and applause)—and the conferring of freedom upon vast num bers of human beings who had been born and were held in slavery. (Cheers.) But alas I there were many forms of evil. Slavery was one—a hateful and most-to-be•abhorred form ; war was another ; military despotism, too, was an evil ; and it was a question whether even so great an object as the extinction of slavery might not be purchased at too high a price. (Hear, hear.) Probably it was because some persons thought that however the war might end slavery was doomed that we found opinion in this country so much divided on the question. If slavery were the only hinge upon which the question turned, there would be no difference of opinion—(hear, hear)—but slavery apart, it was open to ask such questions as whether this war, eiffe rent as it might be in form, was not in principle the same as that which was waged by the American colonies against ourselves—whether we might not trace in it the spirit of 1776—whether we did not see in it the influence of the New World, which it was perhaps too presumptuously supposed was to exercise so predominant an influence neon the whole world—whether it was not the influence of the New World acting upon a part of itself, and whether, in short, that same centrifugal force which separated the American colo nies from this country was not now operating to separate a part of those former colonies from the other. (Cheers.) He should not attempt to offer any answer to these ques tions. It was not of great importance which direction the sympathies of people took ; what was important was the line of conduct which this country, as a whole, had pur • sued. This country had steadily adhered to a policy of non-intervention, and he believed that never were the Americans more anxious for disentanglement in the intricacies of European politics than had this country been anxious for disentanglement in this American struggle. (Hear.) So faithfully had we adhered to our policy of neu trality that, as usually happened with very fair people, we had disappointed both sides at different times. Thus the North complained that we had been too hasty in acknow ledging the South as belligerents, althcugh they were com pelled to do the same thing quite as early as ourselves. (Hear.) On the other hand, the South thought we were too tardy in their recognition, although it was clear they had not even now succeeded in establishing their indepen dence. But appeals had also been made to the Government in reference to the acts of private persons and the rights of neutrals. He referred to the vessels of war of a formidable class. If these vessels were constructed in our ports a belli gerent could not, of course, enter our ports and seize them, because he must not violate our neutrality; and when they issued from our ports, far from being liable to seizure, they ware much more likely to seize the vessel sent after them. (Laughter,) Ho admitted the difficulty of drawing the line between such vessels and other munitions of war, but he thought there was a distinction. These vessels had a sort of distinctive character, they sprang forth a Pallas armed— when they left our ports they were fitted and prepared at all points to prey upon the commerce of a belligerent who might be at friendship with ourselves, and in that way our ports might be viewed as starting places for hostile expedi tions. Fortunately the case had been provided for by anti cipation. An act was passed many years ago giving power to seize such vessels, and some of them had been seized for violating that act—the Alexandra, for example, and the ronclads at Birkenhead. It bad been decided that the Alexandra was not strictly liable to be seized. The policy of our Government would be, however, to do as we would be done by. (Hear.) He hoped when the war was over that both sides would acknowledge that our conduct had been eminently fair. (Hear.) The impending rupture in the north of Germany was a very menacing subject; but he thought he might appropriately preface his re marks by glancing at a very joyful subject—the birth of an heir to the future throne of this country, and he hoped that event might prove as fruitful of good to us all as happiness to her Majesty and the Princess of Wales. (Cheers.) Denmark was a very small country, and the ques tion in dispute was a very small one, but it had brought matters to the verge of war, and it was much apprehended that if war should break out there it would drag all Europe into the vortex. There were two points in dispute, one being the question of succession to the government of the Duchies. In the Duchies the rule of succession had been in favour of the male line, while in Denmark the female line was not ex cluded from the throne. On the death of the King of Den mark these rules of succession would have separated the dominions of Denmark into two parts, and as all the great Powers of Europe were agreed that the integrity of those dominions was of importance for the maintenance of peace in Europe, they agreed in 1852 to recognise the title of the present King to succeed to those Duchies. The States of Holstein, it was said, were not consulted, and did not con sent to this change, hence the present difficulty. The other question arose from the Duchy of Schleswig being inhabited partly by Danes and partly by Germans; and Austria and Prussia had threatened to march their forces into Schleswig unless the King of Denmark withdrew his Constitution, which ♦irtually incorporated Schleswig with Denmark. England in 1862, to prevent things coming to the present crisis, proposed a very sensible plan of a bond of union of our own, which it was to Le regretted was not adopted ; and now, acting as usual on the side of moderation and peace, had proposed a conference on the subject which, it was to be hoped, would extricate this question from the arbitrament of the sword. (Cheers.) It would not be surprising that when there was cause for so much anxiety in general there should be an unanimous wish that England should be strong, and that justice should be done to her strength. (Hear, hear.) He was happy to believe that the forces of this country, supplemented by the well-disciplined body of volunteers, were never a more effective condition than at present, and could confidently be counted upon as equal to any ewer. gency. (Cheers,) It has been the object of the Government to combine efficiency with economy. In the last financial year the expenditure of the country was, for the first time for some years past, under £70,000,000, and showed a real reduction, as compared with the average annual expendi ture of the three previous years, of no less than £2,500,000. But the satisfaction which this would produce would be seen more complete when it was remembered that the estimated expenditure of the present year—and there was no reason to suppose the estimate would be exceeded—was £1,500,000 less than it was last year. (Cheers.) Thus the expenditure of this year would be £4,000,000 below the average annual expenditure of two or three years back. It followed that with a reduction of expenditure a diminution of taxation could be made; and in distributing the relief derived from that source the Government had been anxious to effect a twofold object—namely, to give direct relief to the taxpayer, and also to encourage the commerce and industry of the country. Among measures passed for the widening of our area of commerce might bo mentioned the repeal of the paper duty in 1861, and the repeal in 1860 of the customs duties in connexion with the commercial treaty with France. In the sense of direct relief to the taxpayer, reference might be made to the remission of taxation during the past year. (Hear, hear.) During 1863 the income tax was reduced from 9d to 7d in the pound, with the not inconsiderable additional boon of 'allowing a man whose income was less than £2OO a year to deduct £6O. The reduction of the duty on tea was a matter which spoke for itself. There was no commodity, not a necessary of life, which was so universal a favourite, and whose cheapness and ex cellence were so much appreciated, The increase in the consumption of tea was no bad measure of the habits and customs of the people, and that increased consumption had been wonderful during the past 20 years. Whereas at that period 40,000,0001 b of tea were consumed there were now 80,000,0001 b, showing in 80T119 degree an addition to the rational and domestic enjoyments of the people. (Cheers.) It might perhaps be thought that with these great reductions of taxation the revenue of the country must show a great failing off. But the tables of the revenue lately published told a very diff rent and more gratifying story. Nothing, in fact, could yield more gratifying proof of the general sound condition and healthy prospects of the country. It was not to be expected that the decline in the distress would receive a check with the advance of winter, but the additions which had as yet been made were small, compare I with the additions made at the corresponding period of last year. But, whether the distress advanced, receded, or altogether disappeared, it would be remembered both for its severity and for having been passed through without the aid of Parliament, without a single penny from the Exchequer, (Cheers.) Arid if the cultivation of cotton, stimulated by high prices, should become general, leaving us dependent no longer on one source of supply, then, whenever the good time should return, it would be doubly welcome, for it would not only come, but come to remain. (Cheers.) The only question asked of Mr. Peel was whether he would support "Mr. Lawson's Permissive Dill ;" as to which he said he declined to pledge himself, but had no ob jection to vote for a first reading. The meeting resolved unanimously and with acclamation to support Mr, Peel at the next election, SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, TIMES.—We are in a position to place before the public this morning a complete history of the pro ceedings connected with the respite of George Victor Townley, and the case has acquired a character of such extraordinary importance that it cannot be too attentively observed. On the day following the conviction of the prisoner, Mr. Baron Martin, who had tried him, reopened the question by a commu nication to Sir George Grey, suggesting, but merely suggesting, a further inquiry into the convict's actual state of mind. The judge's letter was not decisively worded. Of his own opinions, indeed, it conveyed but this much—that he thought the con viction right, but as two medical witnesses at the trial had deposed " in the strongest manner" to the actual insanity of the prisoner as he stood at the bar, the judge thought it right to " call the attention" of the Home Secretary to the point thus raised. To this letter Sir G. Grey, after three days' considera tion, replied in terms implying that he himself could see nothing in the report of the trial to call for fresh investigation, and he begged the judge to give him his own impression on the subject. Mr. Baron Martin answered that he " could not say that he had formed any decided opinion on the point," but that he thought there should be further inquiry. Thus moved, Sir G. Grey addressed himself to the Commissioners in Lunacy, frankly avowing his con viction that the verdict was right, and that the pri soner had been sane at the time of the murder, but stating the question which had been since raised as to his present sanity, and commending it to the con sideration of the Commissioners. These gentlemen lost no time in proceeding to Derby and instituting the inquiry with which they had thus been charged. On the 28th of December they made their report. In this document they appear somewhat disposed to let Sir G. Grey form an opinion for himself from the minutes of the proceedings which they submit to him, but they do communicate their own con clusions to the extent which the following words will indicate :—" In view of the extravagant opinions thus deliberately professed by him (the convict), of his extraordinarily perverted moral sense, and of the hereditary taint alleged, and apparently proved, to have existed in the family of the prisoner's grandmother, we cannot consider him to be of sound mind ; but his views of right and wrong, false as they are, appear to have been coherently acted upon, and with a full sense of what they involved. He reasons now as he acted in committing the murder. Upon the point of his alleged belief in a conspiracy against him we pressed him very closely, but we could not satisfy ourselves that this was in the nature of a delusion." They close their report in these terms—" Being of opinion, therefore, that the prisoner continues to be now in the same mental state as when he committed the murder, and underwent his trial, we think that, applying the law as laid down by Mr. Barcn Martin to this case, the prisoner George Victor Townley was justly convicted." Such was the point to which the case was brought by the action of the Home Secretary taken upon the suggestion of the judge. But by this time action had been taken in other quarters. On the day before the date of the commissioners' report a certificate was forwarded to Sir George Grey, signed by three justices of the peace and two medical practitioners, briefly testify ing, in such language as a certain Act of Parliament demanded, that George Victor Townley was insane. And oa the day after the commissioners' report, a similar certificate was forwarded, signed by two justices of the peace, one of whom had signed the first certificate, and two medical practitioners, being identical with those acting in the first instance, to the same effect as before. There were, therefore, three reports made in as many days —one, in the form of a certificate, on Dec. 27; another, from the Commissioners of Lunacy, on the 28th; and a third, in the shape, as it were, of an amended certificate, on the 29th. Why the last should have been sent it is not easy to see, unless it was thought better to comply exactly with the words of the statute, which spoke of "two" justices of the peace, neither more nor less, whereas the first certificate had been signed by three. In fact, it was the latter of the two doeue_ents on which Sir George Grey acted, having, as is now known, no dis cretion in the matter. An Act of Parliament obliged him, on the receipt of such a certificate as was sent to him on the 29th of December, to direct the removal of the convict from the gaol to a lunatic asylum, and consign him to a madhouse instead of leaving him to be executed. This obligation he simply discharged. The reader is now in posses sion of every circumstance of the case from convic tion to the reprieve, and the conclusions suggested are important in the extreme. The Judge who tried the case did not doubt the justice of the conviction. He was moved only by the professional expositions of Dr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne, and, in deed, if the latter gentleman be identical with the surgeon to the gaol, whose letter we publish else where, we may compress the authority into that of Dr. Winslow alone, for his opinions seem to have been largely instrumental in deciding those of Dr. Gisborne. 'The Home Secretary could see no reason for moving in the case on the face of the evidence, nor could he, on a second application, get the Judge to confess to any doubts apart from what he thought due to the testimony of the experts. Then came the scientific and impartial inquiry made by the Lunacy Commissioners, and it may probably be deemed fortunate for the prisoner that Sir George Grey was not, as he has since stated, " called upon to decide ,on that Report alone whether the sen tence of the law ought to be executed or not." The fate of Townley was decided by the certificate. Upon this, and this only, Sir George Grey framed his warrant, as, indeed, he had no option but to do. Two justices of the peace and two medical practi tioners can compel him to do the same in any other case and at any time. It is under these circum stances that the stage of the case which we now approach acquires such extraordinary importance. Who constituted this commission of the magis trates and two surgeons, with power to overrule every other authority in the country ? A formal representation has been made to Sir George Grey to the effect that the commission was constituted at the instance of the prisoner's friends and ad visers, and by them introduced into the gaol. This seems to be partially, though by no means absolutely denied ; but a far more important asser tion has received no denial at all. The Derby shire magistrates who memorialised the Home Secretary in the case distinctly alleged that every member of this self-constituted commis sion, magistrates and surgeons alike, had not only formed conclusions beforehand, but had placed these conclusions on record. In short, these gentle men, who entered, with a power of arbitrary deci sion, on the task of ascertaining whether Townley was sane, or insane, had already settled in their own minds that he was insane, and had published their opinions. We are not sure that these asser tions cover both the certificates sent up, but the doubt is not material. Three out of the four certi fying authorities, if not all, had unquestionably pre judged the case, and put their judgments on record before they commenced their official investigation. We have not the least desire to impeach the sincerity of their views. No doubt their conclusions were uprightly formed, but, having been formed, they certainly disqualified those who had formed them for the office of impartial and unbiassed inquirers. We do not quarrel with these gentlemen as advo • cates, but only as judges; and we repeat our opinion that a law which could admit of their /sassing un challenged from one of these capacities to the other ought, with all possible expedition, to be repealed. The Derbyshire magistrates, upwards of forty of whom remonstrated against this proceeding, asked for an investigation into the "origin and conduct" of the inquiry which produced such results ; but Sir Geo. Grey replied that, as the certificate had been "in accordance with the provisions of the statute," these antecedents were "immaterial." Immaterial they may have been to his decision, but immaterial to the interests of the public they certainly are not. As the case now stands, and as we are left, in de fault of any correction to conclude, a man who did not on the 12th of December appearot o n the n e i mad 2 d alwn t t uda o h nwae of he i , t vo h t ibs e no mad the Judgemouth as thought toor have a u v r e y beenbyw thh Commissioners who e was n wronglyconvicted t m h a e d o a p t i n a i l ? s of s suddenly e Governor i reprieved thed on nGtahoe 3 Gaol month in defer ence to the private e opinionthsofonfettywheoer magistrates and t wo surgeons, expressed in con formity with th e terms of a statute the scope of which nobody a n ti c i pate d . It is a very none the les s so b ecause all the steps, strange oe l a ruios as c these ; result may b e , h ave b een taken according to aye. It is very p ro p er t h at the sanity or insanity of a convict under s en t ence of death should be ascertained but for ascert a i n i ng i t an agency should be beyond any s us pi c i on of prepossesnor prejudice.provdide POST.—The National ShakspereCso, has mmipttoet thee,by their rep or t t o th e Society of Arts, public in posssession of their views of what the ap proaching Tercentenary Commemoration should be. It may all bo comprehended in one sentence—the a to nin the proi )e collection of money f or a statue. As far as we understand or the report, t r here is to be no comme m sense of the word—no festival. Something is said of a morning perform- ante at one of the theatres, and of the proceeds of the London theatres on a certain evening being given to swell the funds of the committee ; but that is all. Nothing more of consequence is announced; and those who are enthusiastic in the cause stop an; ask themselves wh e th e r that is enough ? Th re centuries after his bi r th Shakspere is to be hono ured by n statue, and the "improving the occasion," 11l popular preachers say, by the theatrical perform: antes, is called a commemoration ! We do not want to pick holes in a scheme at present only half dee' loped, but we take leave to say that so meagre . 1 1 proposal is very disappointing. There can, ind eed, be no objection to a statue par ae. No doubt Shn k ; spere ought to have had a statue years ago. 1311 " now that, after three centuries, the kingdom is can vassed for homage to the great bard, is a statue, a n d nothing but a statue, the true and adequate met of commemoration ? Wo think the public will sap that it is not. Let us have a statue by all means' but let us have a great deal more besides. Let 118 ,, have the week, or the greater portion of the w ee ,'" in which the 23d April occurs devoted to sperian festivity. It is not for us to sketch out.: programme. We have already laid down eer tAl e principles deducible from the nature of the 03 which ought to guide the promoters of the nO c r e ment. But we cannot help saying that, as far as t " ng' National Committee's programme goes, nothi seems to be contemplated but the collection of mall for the statue. Now, if a statue were the pro way of commemorating the Tercentenary, then this collection of resources ought to have talee° place months ago ; the money ought to have be e i. r/ collected, the statue complet e d, and then when W 8 23d of April came, it might have been uncove r ; in the presence of tens of thousands ; 14 , 1 r royalty, rank, merit, art, literature, and poPn' a d, enthusiasm circled round to admire and aPPi nu , Stich an uncovering, with all the accessories whl e , d the various interests and orders represented On' supply.—oratory, music, song, and the electric BP I ' pathy of numbers—might indeed be termed a CO memoration, and be worthy of the poet ; but wltn!,i now proposed, however ultimately successful, ' 0 ; as far as the Tercentenary is concern e d be a yen r° two after date. The money is not yet f or thcon 3 lng t ' the site is not yet chosen, nor the artist; so bs.; after all, the celebration of the Tercentenary is , 4 1 danger of becoming ex a ctly w h a t it oug ht not I° " - to —a means of raising money, and Shakspere in • have a statute subscribed for on th e p r i n ciple , charity ball! We suggest to the distinguished P ot sons whose names ate mentioned in th e r eport t u o f they would make the occasion far more worth,' d , the man whom they desire to honour, if, while! if hering to the purpose of a statue, they enlarge t't e et programme so as to include whatever can be furtu b• undertaken in honour of the poet. Can nothill r , done in other places than London to keep the l e ,s centenary Since the Society of Arts has a ssocia tt • itself with the movement, can it not project ar o mode of Shaksperian festivity for the POI generally ? We can understand the liberality °a l manager giving the proceeds of an e v e ning tow nr e , o the statue, but we cannot understand the coromit t , i e acceptance of them. What we could understan ic , a gratuitous performance, at which certain 4 , 0 credited people—the youth of evening classes , ' ti , members of mechanics' institutes and literary i nB i , e r tutions, and many more who otherwise naight. rje s , see a Shaksperian representation in their 1 1 °` ke t might be admitted free on production of a tier obtained through proper ag enc y f rom the S i , c3c . r r of Arts. We could underst an d a ny sc heme !`),`, 0 11 preseutingthe choice s t o f Sh a k s p ere ' s plays the latest and most perf e ct a ppli ances of dr nin- 011 art, or for lecturing on Shakspere, or for orati,°, l3 :lo. Shakspere, or for modes of bringing home u,,,.. tr y pere to the popular heart up and down the n ° , 11 ) ; as well as in London. All this would be worielas him, and would increase his hold on the sif e . et ;ol and gratitude of his countrymen ; but all thlet 6 „,iit as a means o f r a i s i ng mone y f or a G t a t u e, that ° ";i11 to be raised without difficulty from the fre e. i,el offerings of the people, is below the occasion• v or us have the statue, but let us have also a nell' llslo making festival. COUNTRY MARKETS. MANCHE STER—TnuusDAY. erßg l At our market this morning there was a bout an Alteof°r attendance, and wheat sold s l ow l y a t ra th er e asier ril con i• fine descriptions of both English and foreign, whiled Per moner qualities of red American must be quoted o A tti cental lower. Flour dull, and 6d per sack higby' oitio a receded Id per 451 b, and oatmeal 6d per load. beans and Indian corn each 6d to is per qr less money. BURTON- ON.-TRENT—Tuunsn. 4 .T. b ich We bad a tolerable supply of E ng li s h wheat to-daY• l :l 7 O 4 sold slowly at about last week's rates. The busine ss in barley was inactive. Oat s i n fai r 'request, a t late r tea' Beans as before. Old white wheat ..45 s t o 48s I Old red wheat, . • •e s t°sl 393 to of New do. 44s to 47, New do. • • Malting barleY....34s to 40a I Oats ............. '2os oGrinding d 0... ..27 s to 31s j Beans ..........31s tmarkhmouotdeeit inquiry. moderato a T y II:: Ir , • The di n tone gal ms O oo f rst o ts u w r i 13 ni a la r r gih e supply of_ English wheat, which Bold cline of 6d to Is per qr on the p . m; of this day se nntqi, Foreign and slow th i3 e , r .a o t a t. : o o ,: r : Der Oats scarce, and a dull trade. rrye ; ql e u a le\ n fl' sta,latniandngdpbegaarals ju N tY v e- evrtelosr : r a: cheaper. BIRMINGIIAM—ThunsDAY. There was a fair show of wheat 'th a dull del p ti :360 , —English wheat was sold at 40s1to 46s for white, los t° to 42s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting' q j to 06 40s per qr ; grinding, 26s to 30 s Oats, old, , -- s r per 30 stone; Irish, 18s to 245. Beans, 40s to O 1 s Peas, 36s to 44s per 36 stone. EDINBURGH GRAIN—JAx. 1 3 . t fu llf To••day the sample s were l arge , w ith a brisk sale a t last week's prices. 6c11 ;0' ' Wheat on the top 2 s Gd up av erage Os 04 c io Barley on the top Os 6d d own a verage Os TS . up . Oats on the top 6d u p Beans on the top Is Od d own .. average Is Q' Total Supply and Sales. q rs Wheat ... 907 qrs Sold 80S Barley. • •••••.2172 qrs Sold 1290 (10, Oats Beans 2lB qrs Sold 119 0r0 53 od Flour sells as foll ows : —Whit es , 405 . 0 d ; extra s, superfine, 36s Od ; fine, 34s Od. --- A T It e848 : ke,4B. Ca. . at 0 0 re, Foreign Mail Packet List, ... -4... s' MAILS DUE. . I tin. l' Australia and M au riti us , v i a S ou th am pton. ..... Jan' 5 , via Marseilles ......... Feb. , 2 9. brazil and Cape V er d s , b y B r i t i s h pac ßet. ..... . .„ jam Cape of Good H o p e , A scens i on, an d S t . Helena" 03, China, Penang, and Sin ga p ore , v i a Southainlwl Jon. ' via Marseille.; • • ..... •• ...... Falkland Island s .... ' '',Tan. . ....... Gibraltar, via Southampton ................. ..19 3 '0. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via South jim.,,, via Marseilles.•••jo. 21. India (Bombay), via Southampton ............ Pt': 3. via Marseilles ................ :,re Portuga1.... „„ 21. Malta, Egypt, an d Aden, via So ........ ;ton ..... , .I ,4 '''' 20. via Marseilles .... "' i sn. Newfoundland .................. ' -0, Oporto and Vigo ................ , a .; ... ........ t . ka.. 0 . j U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. Pac , t.. • . 2 1 ' by U.S. P ac ' e a cket.. lsl3 10. by Canadian P ... ve) . _ i, W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe .......... ......Feb. ,175, Bahamas, via New York ..................... .30. ' s, Mexico. •...... j Jan .. . . ..... ... h ill Peru, • All parts of West Indies, including --- ' . California. and British Columbia.• ......... ..... —"-----------". a ri ll lo, „. _ a [ADvERTisExtENT.] Holloway's Ualtxnent an tr is ~ temptations, and accidents daily Happiness round the Hearth.. --With the ser e , t i al 3 l ties , n o tem • life in large cities it is most important to hav e e ,„ o er ti, vil, for th w ei .;tio ;some means of stopping the budding neglected the more wide-read is the d e g e tbeY st d Holloway's medicaments supply ' this great want; ~„ use,! can be resdl.oisbw as healers and purifiers. Holloway's inexpensive, purchaseable anywhere, endang,ering -- st D a it are safe even in inexperienced hand s, and perfectlY d p is cure inflammations, abscesseq, d -ulcerations s° l ` 11 gil lity hitherto unknown. Holloway's v . „ Eu edies W I , ro ltisi c w h a a s ra o c f ters, for which in bygone days a relief to sufferers from skin disoewasessof the 111°4 re tuin eil Ointroent(l/: foci; ten administered with fatal conse que nces. _....„---' Births. , liii' ee , f ' LECHMERE—On the 14th inst , at 8, Queel l-str fair, Lady Lechmere, of a son. e ~s , s(ll l, ,,f t e ; LYS,—On the 12th inst , at Kensington• ger u ` — c 13.2" the wife of Lieut.-Colonel G. Moubray LYs; C lll°' 20th Itegt., of a son. Wictiar.—On the 14th inst , at Sutton Court Lodgl3. dangerous wick, the wife of Frederick Wigan, Esq ., 0f a 6° Marriages. , li r ia tje JONES—ADAMS.—On the 12th inst., at All Saititis,',odillil worth, Mr. R. C. J ones , of 4, Down-str eet. "• 1- d oiS," to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of '''' Mr. Thom as I , tb ° Coventry. „ ir e., ~,, WALLER—BARTON.—On the 12th inst., at Off e ., l " - ,th l i Rev. A. E. Waller, vicar of King's Sutton , '-', A °- 1, 1 0 o -. tonshire, to Mary Louisa, only daughter 0 1 t m " Barton, Esq,, of Eangemoor, Staffordshi re. Vl" , Deaths. ce, 4 ARMUTY.—On the 12th inst , at 14, CheshaniP'3Bl3ol3s grave-square, General James Ahmuty, of 1 1 •M' 010 Army, aged 90. , „„ Str ° CovNE.—On the 11th inst , at 13, Craven-a,re-t' ii Miss Susan Coyne. . n cia .r.o.ne, •••• a ALRET—On the 13th inst., at Newcastlvon-'-'" ' Halket, Esq. oic , l tP , LEWIN.—On the 13th inst , at Manor 'Joao, 13111 c J. E. Calord Lewin, Esq., aged 48. gosOf Moss.-0a the 13th inst., at " Kensington) l ' " fr."' a aged 72. WO TROwEn.—On the 12th inst., at Bright"' lDic'r Trower 15th ' - King's II abed 42. net 4 ivi 'or -a° TRyDELT, —0 ussarF' ab n the 11th inst., at Exmouth, A•-•J'i Botet irydell, aged 72. .a •"1" London: Primed and rub.:Ribed by WILLIA,,- e oa ~„cc e jso. 1 oi of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TuE 610.L°Lu uStrand, 'a the Precinct of file 3 a voy, la t t 'thiletlex —Friday, January 15, 1861. 7 , th '((q , .i)); r,l t)i c ( N O r il ,111, t h 4, till to or 4, t, t etr ip t ; 1. er : •04. 14 .1 ) 1:;: r ti k li()11 ! 4o 1 ,•' , 11 ' ll (414 Itt„ t''' q k) liio N , ti t, kr, ' , tr!• kr I', THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 15, 1864.